The defeatist left.
A) most Libdems voters would not be afraid of Starmer's Labour. Even less so if they knew it would be governing in a coalition needing support of Libdems MPs
B) you don't need ALL Labour voters to ensure a defeat of the Tories. A small percentage of them
would be enough in many constituencies where the LD are very close to the Tories.
C) Libdems voters are traditionally the best at voting tactically. Most of them would vote Labour if needed to ensure a better LD national result. They are also very motivated, as would the Greens
by the prospect of PR.
D) Greens voters are mostly on the left or left of centre. Some will also vote on local issues & others out of a rejection of the Tories. So what?
It is time to treat the voters like adults: anyone can understand how electoral pacts work.
Voters do in most of the world. Your attachment to & defense of FPTP is undemocratic English exceptionalism at its worse. Of course things can change. But not as long as people like you pretend they cannot. Further what is there to lose?
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Of course. It is (roughly) the same with all contracts. You have to follow a dispute resolution process. It takes time. However: 1. if the EU is putting an offer which resolve most of the IMPLEMENTATION (as opposed to RENEGOTIATION) issues of the NIP, the UK will ultimately lose
as a. art 16 is only a temporary remedy; b. Most of the issues around the UK to NI trade cld be resolved by EU proposal c. No arbitrator will accept that disliking what you signed is a valid cause for suspension d.The UK has deliberately procrastinated on implementing its NIP
obligations such as real time access to customs data for EU & food labelling. 2. But more importantly there are many other ways outside the TCA/WA that the EU can use to retaliate promptly (while pursuing the DR process in parallel):
-delays at the French border which
IS IT A PLOT? A🧵
I am slowly coming to believe that Johnson could trigger a GE very soon & that the tensions around the NI Protocol are just an excuse to do so. The 🇬🇧 apparent determination to reject the EU’s offer suggest this may be correct.
One of the constant problems has been the failure of the UK's to give to the EU real time access to customs data which would allow the EU to reassure itself that goods said to be destined for NI stay there & therefore don't need control. This data access obligation is in the NI
Protocol & Gove committed again to it as did Frost. But the UK isn't doing it. The solution proposed by the EU- roughly checks would be limited to goods travelling through NI to the EU, outside the UK internal market- will obviously require this key committment to be implemented.
"Afghans who recently arrived in the UK after fleeing the Taliban takeover have asked to be sent back, CASTING DOUBT over the success of Operation Warm Welcome, the government’s Afghan resettlement programme".
What a way of putting it @guardian ! They prefer to put themselves
at the mercy of fanaticsl killers in a country ravaged by war than to stay at the mercy of the UK government! What does it say about the programme? It says TOTAL FAILURE. Who is responsible?
"It was launched by Boris Johnson on 29 August to help Afghan refugees arriving in the UK"
So no surprise there: another spin operation by the Bluster in Chief with NI substance, no money behind it, no strategic planning, no implementation competence.
The usual: #AllTalkNoWalk
1.Geopolitical alliances:we already had that freedom. AUKUS possible in the EU
2.Research projects: the UK scientific community was a massive beneficiary of Horizon & was not prevented from participating in many other international research projects. It will lose funding &access
to scientists. 3. Educational exchanges: Erasmus wasn't limited to the EU. The UK already had the freedom to set up educational exchanges programmes with other countries & did. 4. Immigration rules were an exclusive UK competence for non-EU migration. The UK never bothered to 3/
use the registration system & limits of FoM: right to come to look for a job for 3 months. No right to stay after this unless "not a burden on the host state" + health insurance. 5. State Aid: the UK new domestic state aid regime is very similar to & totally compatible with 4/
First to feel the squeeze will be the 5.5m low-income households in receipt of universal credit, which is both an out-of-work benefit and a supplement to the earnings of the low-paid. The loss of £1,040 a year is the biggest single cut to social security since the foundation
of the modern welfare state.The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a charity, estimates that more than 500,000 people, of whom 200,000 are children, will fall into poverty. More than a third of those affected are in work.
This is part of a remarkable pivot: having previously said that staff shortages were nothing to do with Brexit, Johnson now argues that these shortages are in fact among Brexit’s main benefits.